Scott Podsednik, who didn't hit a home run in 507 regular-season at-bats, clubbed a homer off closer Brad Lidge with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Sox a 7-6 victory over Houston and a 2-0 lead in the World Series before a damp but delirious crowd of 41,432.

Of the 49 teams that have taken 2-0 leads in the Series, 38 have won the championship. That includes the last five, most recently the Boston Red Sox.

The White Sox have won six consecutive postseason games and 14 of their last 15 dating to the regular season.

But seldom has a victory been this dramatic. The Sox were facing the possibility of heading to Houston tied in the Series 1-1 and facing flamethrowing Roy Oswalt in Game 3 before a loud crowd at Minute Maid Park.

"They've done it before," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said of the Astros' resiliency. "They had this happen [in the National League Championship Series] and blew the Cardinals out of the water with Oswalt on the mound."

This was the second time in as many games that Lidge had allowed a game-winning playoff home run. But it was more incredible that he surrendered his homer on a 2-1 pitch to Podsednik, who started the game with a 10-pitch at-bat against Pettitte and has shown a knack for working counts in his favor in the postseason.

"This is a great guy," Konerko said of Podsednik. "It couldn't happen to a greater guy. Everyone likes Pods."

Podsednik, aware of Lidge's powerful fastball and dive-bombing slider, felt comfortable once he worked the count in his favor.

"It was a good pitch to hit, and I was able to drive it out," said the recently engaged Podsednik, who said this was the greatest moment of his baseball career.